First something about Ernst Toch. HK had spoken to me about Toch a couple of times as an example of a neglected composer who produced solid, interesting, 'durchkomponiertes' work, particularly in chamber repertoire. He specifically singled out the quartets. Anyway, I never followed up the lead. But lately, encouraged by the many felicitous discoveries in new repertoire (Petrassi, Hartmann, Maconchy) and a discounted offer by Presto, I decided to take the plunge.
Toch is a German composer, born in 1887. His career is remarkable in several respects. First, he was largely self-taught (by studying scores of Mozart and Haydn quartets). He quickly rose to prominence in the Twenties and Thirties, to become one of Germany's iconic composers, alongside Hindemith, Weill and Krenek. The Nazi's power grab made an end to all that. He settled down in the US, where he continued to live until 1964 in relative obscurity (much to his dismay). First he taught and wrote film music, but after a serious heart attack in 1948 he decided to focus solely on his artistic mission. All of his symphonies were written in the last 15 years of his life and are the product a mature and fully developed creative mind.
What struck me about the Fourth Symphony is the uncanny kinship with the symphonies of the late Carl Nielsen. So for me this work belongs squarely in the symphonic lineage leading from Nielsen to Robert Simpson. Which is thrilling news, of course! Indeed, the music is tremendously self-assured, shares the clarity of outline and the cool, translucent harmony of Nielsen. Also the orchestration reminds us of the Dane, with sinuous and dynamic leading strings and beautiful inner voices from the woodwinds. Particularly in the finale of the Fourth there is also the kind of dense polyphonic writing that is so characteristic of Simpson's work.
The atmosphere of Toch's Fourth is dreamlike and serene. Like Honegger's Fourth, but more abstract. I'm also particularly reminded of Nielsen's Sixth. There is an idiosyncracy: Toch dedicated the work to benefactor Marian McDowell and in between movements (there are three) short but quirky texts are declamated by the conductor. Antal Dorati refused to include the texts at the premiere with the Minneapolis SO and I can see very well why he did that. In the CPO disc the spoken text is not separately cued, so one is pretty much forced to make it part of the listening experience. Anyway, it's not a big deal, once one is used to it. Here are my notes of the audition:
"The first movement ('Molto dolce, molto tranquillo, molto equalmente') starts with a meandering, dreamlike theme on unison strings. It is taken up in a more urgent variation for the full orchestra which has Nielsen fingerprints all over: the oscillating, slightly menacing strings; the characteristic, quizzical figures in the brass and woodwinds, a translucent harmony where light and shade are skillfully blended.
The movement falls into three sections. Second section starts with a gloomy clarinet solo, followed by a flute solo, then oboe, bassoon. Back to the unison string motive. Hints of Prokofiev at his most genial. Then a more vivacious sequence in the strings, again framed by forlorn brass motives. The section ends on a short, ambiguous fortissimo flourish. Back to the initial theme, almost unadorned. No counterpoint. This is very bleak. Sounds like the finale of RVW's Sixth.
The scherzo ('Lively (con brio)) is short, boisterous. Toch has a very delicate touch here, almost Mendelsohnian. Here too reminiscences of mature Nielsen's fast movements in some of the rhythmic figures that flash through the orchestral fabric, the skillful writing for the winds.
The finale (Molto grave) start with thrilling peroration in the upper strings (like Nielsen’s VI/1!) but also like Nielsen IV/3! Shape of the thematic material and the orchestration so uncannily like Nielsen. Sections separated by a menacing ppp timpani roll. Again, one can’t help to think about Nielsen. Second section is very animated. We get into the denser polyphonic textures that we are familiar with from Simpson, including the insistent pounding on the timps. I was also reminded of Tippett. Final section starts again with a morose clarinet solo. Then a passage that reminds in its harmonisation of Mahler’s Tenth. High strings above long held notes of the low brass. Textures thin out. Violin solo with quartet. And that ‘s it. Beautiful."
The tone of this work is bittersweet. It could only have been written by an ageing composer. It is a pure, unpretentious but moving 'spiel' of sound. The music is not difficult at all. But is is quite uplifting.
Formally there is one thing that strikes me. Toch wrote seven symphonies, of which this one is the central, the pivotal element. The Fourth is structured into three movements, the first and last of which fall into three sections each. Each takes about 4 minutes. That also applies to the central scherzo. So one could equally well see the symphony as composed of seven section of almost equal lenght. Within the wider scheme of things, the scherzo would then be the middle line of Toch's whole symphonic oeuvre. A delicate scherzo of Mendelssohnian, or Mozartian grace and sense of proportion. That would certainly be apt for a composer who considered Mozart always as his ultimate teacher ...
What is also a great source of pleasure in this production is the really excellent quality of the music making and the demonstration quality of the recording (Jesus Christus Kirche, Berlin). The orchestra sounds as if they have been playing this music all their life. Alun Francis shapes this elusive work in the most natural of ways. And the engineers created a sound picture full of depth and a pleasing sense of space. Just what this music needs, with its gentle intimations of nature and loss.
As I feel this music stems from a different lineage than the one I am reconnoitering now in my Bartok campaign, I am going to put the Toch cycle aside until I have progressed a little further with Bartok, Hartmann and Petrassi. But it was a very promising encounter indeed.
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